ONC contends with right balance in EHR standards

Federal health information technology policymakers said yesterday they crafted a set of more flexible standards for electronic health records systems to make it easier for providers to qualify for meaningful use when the first phase of the health IT incentive program starts next year.

After 2011, as providers face more challenging requirements for meaningful use of EHRs they purchase under the plan, these standards could tighten, members of the Health IT Standards Committee said in their Jan. 21 meeting. Policymakers discussed setting a path for introducing EHR technical standards over the course of the 2011-2016 incentive plan. The standards are part of the Interim Final Rule (IFR) that lays out requirements for certified EHRs physicians and hospitals must use to qualify for health IT incentives. In tuning the standards, ONC tried to strike a balance between using regulation and market forces, officials said, with enough specificity to allow for innovation on one hand and the stiff arm of rulemaking on the other.